I love the farm but right now I hurt. I bent down slightly to pick up a book off my chair and my lower back went ‘snap’. Boy does it hurt, I can barley walk. And what do I have to do??? Go to the barn and feed the natives. They gotta be fed. Part of having a small farm is you can’t take a sick day. Kyle is gone for a few days, Super Farmer is at his real job so that leaves me and all of them. Wouldn’t be so bad if there wasn’t deep snow to try to step through and animals who will surround me demanding food as soon as I get out there! On the other hand, I believe if I fall down in the middle of the pasture and can’t get back up, they will pick me up, carry me to the barn, keep me warm and watch over me! Loyalty Dunkay, Laci and various furry friends…I demand loyalty!!!

I opened the door this morning to let the pups out to potty and there was a soaked hen standing at the back door. Might be chick chick, not sure. Poor thing, she was dripping wet, from what? It’s snowing not raining. Any hoo….I put on my boots, followed 3 yapping dogs out into the mini blizzard that’s blowing outside right now, to grab the wet chicken with tiny ice crystals forming on her feathers. I need to get her in the cozy dry barn.
Stupid bird, you’d think she w…ould want me to pick her up and save her from turning into a Popsicle!!! Nope, she ran into the kids play area with me running behind her in my pink Jammie’s, my white & blue polka dot robe flapping behind me from the wind and blowing snow. I chased her around the tiny area littered with toys for about 10 seconds, she ran under the slide and that’s when I decided this really isn’t something I want….every car passing the farm to slow down so the folks inside could get a good laugh or roll their eyes as they shake their heads thinking, ‘there she goes again’!
I left her shivering under the slide. This is a job for Super Farmer, besides, it’ll make for a funny short film on the life of Chad and his frozen hen!!!
Camera…action…run Super Farmer run!!!

Our hens hatched 13 chicks this summer. Little yellow puff balls running around after the mamas, learning how to be chickens. They were hatched a few days after my Tribble Addie (read his stories on facebook) was run over by a driver who didn’t bother to stop. The fluffs are now full grown chickens and of course, we have at least two new roosters, possibly three. The last 4 or 5 days now, they have been learning how to crow. They start about 2am and keep up the, ‘I’m better than you’ …contest until about 1am the next morning.
Today I saw them squaring up, feathers ruffled, strutting in circles around each other as the hens watched, swooning over the young bucks. They pecked at each other, jumped and squeaked out their adolescent voices as they showed off their manly stuff to the ladies. I however, was not impressed. It makes me anxious to know that two males will be trying to protect the flock as soon as they grow into maturity after bird hormones kick in. We already had one problem rooster years ago who we named Lucifer. He would run full speed toward us, then attack ninja style! Feet sideways as he sliced through the air with eyes glaring with hatred for all humans. We got rid of him. He met Mr Axe who shows no mercy. Now we have two more males that I will be showing Mr Axe to as I gleefully tell them about poor lucifer who was not spared because of his bad attitude!

Okay…so I hear there is a car wash in Michigan City that also washes your dogs. You can run your pooch though his very own wash at the same time the car goes through!
I can picture a conversation with the attendant going something like this as Biscuit trembles at my side shaking with fear because he see’s water and smells shampoo…”why yes sir, I do want to run my 73lb PIT BULL through your ‘doggie wash’…of course he’s friendly…whatever you do…. DO NOT make eye contact!  All I ask, is that you slowly back away to about 30 feet after the water starts pouring on him”!!!

Laci the mini tank and Dunkay are getting a pill twice a day to keep their piggy’s from getting infected from all the horse grain they gobbled up. So far so good. The donkey is limping a little, but that’s only because Super Farmer backed up into him with the Jeep. We always assume they have enough sense to move when they see a 4 ton object headed towards them. Nope, that’s when they decide its time to play ‘tree’

DEC 21…

I’m almost positive that Santa will be skipping the farm this year! The naughties have been just that….naughty!!! I went into the barn today to find that the natives broke through the main gate…again….eating all my treats that I put in there last night, on the table, up high. I had 4 boxes of stale crackers, cookies and some bread. They not only ate every last crumb, but most of the boxes were gone…eaten. What was left were tiny pieces of shredded cardboard and wax… paper. They also knocked over the kitties water and ate the fresh hay that was to be their breakfast, lunch and dinner for the day. Not anymore, they ate almost the whole bale before breakfast!
I tried to explain to them that Santa knows everything! He knows if they’ve been bad or good, so be GOOD for goodness sake! They nodded their heads in agreement as if to say , “sorry”, then within 3.8 seconds, the donkey was pushing the goats out of the way, Laci the mini tank shoved the alpaca into the wall and Sammie spit at everyone! Coal….that’s what I’m writing to Santa about this week….coal!!!

DEC 23…

Yep. They know it’s Christmas time! All animals are on their best behavior right now! I went out to feed them and they let me in without shoving to be number one in line for hay. Dunkay stepped aside to let Laci come forward. She in turn, let Lincoln eat first who shared his yummy grain with Sammie who let both goat’s eat the left over crumbs without spitting on them. After lunch, they stood there without demanding more. I turned to leave and they all followed me winking as they tried to let each other go out first. They know I have a direct line to Santa.

DEC 24…

Well the animals are lined up, waiting for Santa to stop by and hand out gifts! I think I’ll keep them waiting for awhile. I’m enjoying their good behavior!!

DEC 25…

Well the naughties were just that…naughty! They were so close to seeing Santa this year.  So close!  We went out to the barn yesterday and they broke through the main gate AGAIN, eating all the lama food!  A brand new 50 lb. bag. What’s so bad about that you ask? Horses And donkeys can not eat allot of grain. It will make them sick, they could ‘flounder’ which is their hooves getting soft, sore and infected. It can make them lame.  If that happens, you have to put them down. The goats will also get sick cause their tummies will bloat from too much grain. Of course the food we had out was a special mix for mama llama and baby Promise, filled with extra vitamins and protein made just for nursing. Not good for other animals. So we locked em up in the barn. We need to run to the vet today and get pills to get a jump start ahead of anything that may make them sick. No gifts for Addie Addie Acres this year!

Earlier today I was out in the pasture with all the kids when Lincoln our alpaca started to cry out his warning call! He was staring past the chicken yard towards the pecan trees that grow along side the now dying weeds. Sweetie & Violet were also standing still looking in the same direction. So I walked over there to see what they were looking at. I stood next to Lincoln, straining to see some kind of predator lurking in the tall browning plants. He kept up the war cry, I kept squinting. I couldn’t figure it out…..then….I saw it! It was black, shiny and making an eerie clicking sound! He was fussing over an oversized black bird! Yep, that’s right…a bird! A big one, but still a bird. This black terror was pecking away at llama poop as 4 or 5 more of his family members perched in a nearby tree were making those weird sounds. I looked at Lincoln who was still staring, yelling out his alpaca call and said….”really? A bird?”. He didn’t answer me. He kept up his vigil of bird watching. I went back to the barn thinking the boy has lost his marbles!